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It was obvious now that Uleön had a lot to learn about the Sleeping Dragon's residing pack's culture if she wanted to do her job correctly, and the best way she knew how to learn things was asking. Eldfell always encouraged it's members to learn new things, to be curious about the world and to always give a chance to new ways and points of view, and Uleön had found the practice to be ever renewing. She wasn't always the same female, and here she would change again. She would become Drageda.
Her hind legs were stiff still from the attempt to dig up her own den, but the old crone was doing a lot better. She had taken some poppy seeds she'd managed to collect some days prior, inspired by Portia's unique skillset, so the pain wasn't the real problem. She managed to walk her way up to Heda @Thuringwethil's den area and sat down patiently, knowing she would pop out sooner or later.
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Thuringwethil doesn’t spend much time in her den. Some nights she doesn’t even sleep there. There’d been nearly two weeks she’d gone at Gyda’s every night when the puppies had just been born. Pinpointing her location at any given minute isn’t the easiest thing in the world and the only reason she swings by the den this afternoon is because she felt a conveniently timed rumble in her stomach. A cache near to her den has been stocked more often than not lately and she isn’t disappointed when she comes across it and rips the leg meat from the ground.
It hadn’t been there long, for it would spoil in the heat, and so she isn’t sure if the warmth is from the weather or how fresh it really is. However, she doesn’t think about it long and picks up her feet to leave. A few steps in the way she’d been walking brings another into view and her head tilts, looking over the aged form of Uleön as she patiently sits off in the distance.
“Hei,” she greets with a single nod of her head.
Her vision drifts away for a moment following the fluttering of birds above her head. Patience was her virtue, so Uleön could have sit there for hours if that meant she would, in the end, get to meet Heda Thur privately. And in time, her figure materialized in the distance, bringing Uleön's deep mahogany eyes to the earthly level once more.
With a nod she greets the commander, inviting her to a conversation. "Heda," she barks with a smile, "I was hoping to ask a few things I still haven't clear about the Drageda ways..." explains the older female tilting her head a notch.
have a tiny post :o
Thuringwethil briefly wonders how long the woman has been sitting here and waiting. She perks up when she’s spoken and the other doesn’t waste time in presenting her purpose. The young leader searches the woman’s face for a moment longer and, ultimately, she nods her head to answer the question,
“of course.”
*squints* I can barely see it
jk <3
Uleön hadn't quite thought out the exact questions she wanted answers for, but only because there were so many things to ask that a simple and vague 'what is drageda?' could cover every base of what the old woman needed to know.
"How does Heda come to be?" she decides to pick. As a synonym to commander, understanding what Heda meant could easily point Uleön's future questions in a better direction. Heda was the point of the pyramid, for what the crone could understand.
The woman’s question does not surprise her and Thuringwethil nods her head, feeling pleased that she’s gone out of her way to learn more in a personal session. The others have been learning as they go but she is always around if they have direct questions, but Heda remembers Uleon’s background and her curiosity only suits her. She has plenty to learn if she puts her talents to use and Thuringwethil is glad to see them out. Learning their history, their ways, would give her an advantage to integrate further into Drageda.
“One becomes Heda by a Fos Goufa winning their conclave on the predecessor’s death,” she answers, giving the simplest way possible. There is a lot that leads up to the accomplishment and she knows more questions will come, so Thuringwethil straightens her shoulders as she makes herself comfortable, certain she might be here for a while. “A Fos Goufa is a wolf born the only child in the litter, making them a whole vessel so that Heda’s spirit may reside. We are able to communicate with the wolves that were before more, mostly through dreams, and we live a different way than the other Drageda wolves.”
Her restrictions as their leader isn’t something she likes to think about, especially recently with Wildfire on her mind. She struggles to hide a sigh welling in her chest and she slowly releases the breath to reduce the pressure.
“When the last Heda passed on, my conclave—Sadgeda—and our abilities are tested and the final stage when the next commander is chosen is when one is left standing,” she explains, never leaving the woman’s face and wondering if she’d understood the meeting. “I was the youngest of the four and they didn’t see me as a threat, so when they finished killing each other and it came between me and another, he’d been weakened enough that I was able to best him.” She pauses, swallowing a lump in her throat as she thinks about that day. “The victor is left alone for the night with no assisted healing to see if we survive the spirit entering our vessel.”
She tightens her jaw then, thinking she might add something else but she shakes the thought before saying one final thing: “I had been eight months old when I became commander.”
As the explanation comes, Uleön's mouth shuts and her ears perk up in curiosity. The words flow out of Heda Thuringwethil's mouth as smoothly as a gyrfalcon flies, and everything comes to synthesis in little more than a few sentences. She explains that Heda is born an only pup from a litter, making them eligible as a single vessel for Heda's soul to fill it out. There is a faith linked to her logic, and so the old woman keeps a skepticism towards it. However, it is not her place to be against the belief, instead, the Sage must adapt to the new culture and serve within it's boundaries.
The revelation of Thur's age when she came to be Heda comes as a shock to the crone. She had been young, very young to take a life, but once again, it wasn't Uleön's place to question the methods of Drageda.
"Is it normal for a Fos Goufa to become commander at such a young age?" was the first question that came to mind. She left the questions about violence and savagery to herself, deciding she would likely find out more about that as time went. She was linked to Drageda now, having taken an oath, and she would honor that word no matter how wild life would become for her.
Uncertain to how the woman might take the information, Thuringwethil searches for face for a clue, but she isn’t give much. Instead, a single question, and she doesn’t have to think long on it.
“There have been wolves that were young to take the lead,” she says. Of course, not that she remembers, as a Heda remains until death and she’d replaced the one prior. She knew the history of their wolves, at least, and the most prominent commanders through their past. “But I was the youngest. It caused a little problem within Seageda. Most of the wolves accepted it, knowing the spirit does not choose incorrectly, but those that didn’t did enough damage and that is why we are here today instead of by the ocean, where we’d always been.”
For the remainder of their time together, when asked for more information of her home, Thuringwethil willing gives it until it is time for them to part.